North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Melissa Kacalanos <mijwiz@yahoo.com>]

I'm considering planting an American persimmon tree. I don't have a lot of 
room, so I probably have room for only one of these big trees. Is it true 
that 'Yates' sets fruit without pollination, and they're seedless? It sounds 
too good to be true, so I'm checking with y'all. Are these seedless fruit as 
numerous, big and tasty as seedy pollinated ones would be?

Oh, and someone asked about blue persimmons a little while ago. I notice that 
they're for sale here:
http://www.nolinnursery.com/Persimon.htm
although I've heard that they don't taste as good as the orange ones. They do 
look interesting, though. Here's a picture, plus info:
http://www.simmonfruit.net/persimmon_improvement.html

But now a persimmon growing question: The only place in my yard big enough 
for a big tree like that is just to the west of a huge sugar maple. Anything 
I plant there would get sun only after noon, unless it somehow grows really 
tall really fast and shades the maple. Would a persimmon do OK with 
competition like that?

Melissa
zone 5 central NY
Eating frozen strawberries, and looking at the snow.

--- On Sat, 1/9/10, Lee Reich <lreich@hvc.rr.com> wrote:

> From: Lee Reich <lreich@hvc.rr.com>
> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Tall persimmons
> To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Date: Saturday, January 9, 2010, 9:09 AM
> I've grown American persimmon
> cultivars here in Zone 5 in the Hudson Valley for about 20
> years and almost always harvest nice crops. I recommend
> Szukis as the best for flavor and hardiness, and just about
> as good are Mohler, Dooley, and Yates. Meader never tastes
> that good to me, Pieper never ripened, and Prok just barely
> ripens but remains somewhat astringent and bland.
>  Lee Reich,
> PhDhttp://www.leereich.com/http://leereich.com/blog.html.
> Books by Lee Reich:A
> Northeast Gardener's YearThe Pruning
> BookWeedless
> GardeningUncommon Fruits for Every
> GardenLandscaping with
> Fruit
> 
> 
> 
>  
> On Jan 8, 2010, at 3:15 PM, Melissa Kacalanos
> wrote:
> I probably just need someone to talk me out
> of this, but y'all got me thinking about persimmons
> again. Is it possible to grow them in zone 5a, upstate NY? I
> know the American species is hardy to this zone, but do the
> fruit have enough heat and time to mature here? How about
> this Rosseyanka hybrid?
> 
> I saw a kaki tree in Switzerland in December that looked
> ridiculous, it had so many gaudy orange fruit on it. It made
> me think that a persimmon might be worth planting just as an
> ornamental.
> 
> Melissa
> Enjoying the smell of candying citrus peel on the stove,
> and looking out at the snow.